Some days are rocks, some days are diamonds. Today was a rock on any level.
I made two prototypes to try as GoPro mounts yesterday out of some scrap lumber. One was something I mounted on the foredeck. The other was a simple mount on the aftdeck.
As soon as I got in the kayak it was evident the foredeck configuration would not work.
The first issue was it had the camera too high. That made the kayak a bugger to handle in the rough water, almost knocking me over three times as I worked with the camera, and any video was going to be swinging wildly from side to side.
The second issue was the mount extended too far beyond the gunwales which made my paddle stroke awkward and inefficient. I constantly fell behind Dean and Neville.
On both counts, my own fault. I put it together late the night before and didn't try it out before I headed to the water.
Dean fixed the first issue by yanking the vertical member off but the second issue I had to contend with all the way to Topsail Beach. The wind and waves didn't make it any easier also. When Topsail Beach came into view it was for me the "Promised Land". I just wanted to get there and remove the remaining piece of the mount ...
... which I did before mounting the camera on the rear deck. Leaving Topsail Beach we had some huge breaking seas. I had the camera pointing backwards hoping to get in front of the guys and video them paddling behind me.
As we made our way in the breaking seas I thought to myself that I was capturing some awesome video. Back at St. Philips I was hugely disappointed to discover the camera was on but not recording (more on that in a day or so).
We had great paddling conditions. I felt the distraction of the problems with the camera operation took away from the experience as I concentrated more on the video than the paddling.
Oh well, chaulk it up to experience. There are some things with the GoPro that I'm not being attentive enough. I'll have to work on that.
On the bright side I spent another day on the water and I'm a day wiser. No sense getting older without getting wiser.
Hi Tony I share your frustration with the GoPro. I have often missed great footage because the camera was not recording or the battery was flat. A great mount is the Kayalu mount, This can be used with or without the extension bar. The ball joint is much more effective than the various links that come in the GoPro kit. Then there is all the hard disk space and time required for editing!
ReplyDeletePhew, thanks Douglas, I'm glad to know I have company on that score. I thought it was just me.
ReplyDeleteI got no video when I thought I was getting it, I got video and time lapse still when I thought I was shooting just video etc, etc. I have to think about how this all happened and take the camera out on a calm day. Learning in chop and trying to stay upright was probably not a good idea.
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.
Nonetheless, I think it will be fun once I have it figured out and get consistent results.
Tony :-)